The Boy Next Door

I stayed out of the house the whole weekend. I slept over at Jas' house and came back on Sunday night. Call me childish and whatever but I was still a little bit upset at my mom. I only talk to her when I need to, and as much as I hate this, I'm not ready to accept it.

Monday morning, I wake up a little bit earlier than usual. I take my time getting ready, sipping my pumpkin spice tea while at it. As I look out the window, I see the leaves turning into a beautiful orange colour.

I love fall. It's always been my favorite time of the year. I love how pretty the falling leaves look, and of course, I get to wear my sweaters.

I ignore my contacts today and stick with my glasses. I pick out my outfit; a light brown turtleneck sweater, denim jeans and a belt to compliment the look. I put on my boots and head downstairs for breakfast. I see my mom in the kitchen, sipping her coffee.

"Good morning, Honey." She greets me

"Good morning." I answer, putting my bread in the toaster

"Look Gail, I'm really sorry. I know I owe you an explanation. Do you want to go have dinner at Le Quartier tonight?" She sighs

"Mom.. You know I love you more than I love myself. I'm sorry I acted that way, but yes you do owe me an explanation." I say

Mom nods, "Tonight it is then."

Just after that, I hear Travis' usual honking. He always does that when he arrives. "I better get going. Bye mom, see you later." I take my toast with me to eat on the way

"Bye, Princess. Have a nice day!"

I get in the car and hug Travis hello. We talk and gossip as usual on our way to school. When we arrive, we meet up with the others at they parking lot. We hang out for a while until I see Alex's car pulling in. He looks at me for a while, frowns and starts walking inside the building.
I almost forgot about Friday night. I'd left his house without telling him, it wasn't because I was mad at him or anything. I mean well, it's Alex after all.

*****

Last class of the day, math. Mrs. Lindsey starts explaining the next chapter and a few minutes before the class ends, she hands out the pop quiz result from last week.

"I'm not surprised." Mrs. Lindsey says as she hands me my paper with an A+ on it

"Thank you." I smile

She approaches Alex who is seated behind me, "And to you Alex, I must say that I'm very surprised of your result. Thanks to Gail also for tutoring you. This is your best score so far, Alex. Keep up the good work."

Alex briskly takes his paper. His eyes widen in surprise as he sees the result. "Is this even real? This is not bad at all!"

"Well, I'm happy that I hadn't wasted my precious time tutoring you for nothing then." I smile
The bell rings after that, I gather my stuff and get ready to go home. I stop by my locker to put my books, Alex leans on the locker next to mine.

"Can you believe it? I passed the quiz!" Alex says

"Yeah, congratulations to you, Gaskarth." I laugh softly

"You know what? As my sign of thank you, I'm getting you coffee after this. How does that sound? I'll drive you home afterwards." He asks

I nod, "Who am I to say no?" I lock my locker and Alex leads me to his car.

"You know what? I think I see how your mood works now." I say

He smirks, "What do you mean?"

"Like, you're the most inconsistent person I've ever met. One second you're acting so irritating, and the next thing I know you act like an angel. At least to me." I answer

"Hey that's not true." He laughs

"And now, I'm kind of seeing a motive here. Like, you've been nice to me as of lately because I tutored you. So I have to be extra nice to you in order to get you to be nice to me." I make a conclusion

Alex grins, "Ooh look who wants my attention."

"See? I don't understand why I agreed to this in the first place." I roll my eyes

"Because you wanted coffee?" He suggests

I laugh, "Yeah, that."

After a few moment of silence, Alex turns on the stereo. Rock music starts playing and I know straight away that it's Green Day. But i've never heard of this song before, the mixtape Jack gave me mostly consists of Blink-182. There are a few Green Day songs, I personally like Green Day more.

"Is it Green Day?" I ask

"Yeah. 21st Century Breakdown." Alex answers

I turn my head, "You know the mixtape Jack gave me right? He put a lot of Blink-182 songs in it but not many Green Day songs. I like them both but I personally like Green Day more."

"Yeah, I think so too. Jack's more into Blink-182 while i'm more into Green Day. If you want I can give you a mixtape also." He offers

"I'm liking this friendly Alex."

He smirks as he pulls into the drive through, "Well, this Alex is not liking it because he's gonna have to pay for your coffee?

"I'm getting their largest cup." I laugh

"Fuck, Olson. You're gonna make me broke." He frowns

We place our order and wait. When our order finally comes, I start sipping my caramel macchiato.

"Why are you staring at me?" I ask

"Why'd you leave without telling me that night?"

"I went back to my house. That was it." I shrug

"But yeah you could've at least said something to me. I was worried as hell." He raises his voice

"You shouldn't have worried about anything." I say, "It's not like you care after all."

" Well you're wrong." He looks at me straight in the eyes

We stay like that for a while, just us, staring into each other's eyes. His hand reaches out to my face, caressing my cheek. It feels as if we were back in my room that night. That night we never speak of again. The time around us stops, so does my mind. I can't process whatever is happening at the moment.

Literally just seconds ago, Alex was shouting at me and look where we are now.

Until he finally leans in.

Until his lips touch mine.

And just like that, I'm brought back to real life.

This is not happening.

"I can't..." I say, lost. "This is too much."

I grab my bag and quickly get out of the car. I keep running until i'm finally inside the house, locking the door behind me.

"Gail, I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have done that. I can explain!" Alex bangs on he door

"What's there to explain?" I shout back

"Please... Gail, just please let me talk. I'm begging you." He pleads

I haven't realized that I've been crying. I don't even know why. I finally decide to go upstairs to my room and draw the curtains.

What's happened?

Notes

Bam.